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Later today the government is due to announce new rules on nutrient neutrality which will unblock 160,000 new homes.

Prior to the General Election the Labour government prevented the Conservatives attempts to rip up ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules, but now they have risen to power they have begun changing environmental protections to enable the construction of more properties.

Deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and environment secretary, Steve Reed, have written to environmental groups claiming that the current planning rules are ‘not working’ and they need to find new ways to kickstart housing developments that have been put on hold. To do this, authorities have remarked that under the new planning bill – which was announced in last week’s King’s speech – developers will be able to start work and agree mitigations during construction rather than beforehand. This idea has cast concerns as it could result in severe environmental protections.

In the letter to environmental groups, Reed and Rayner wrote: ‘When it comes to the planning system’s role in providing the nature and housing we need, we know the status quo is not working.

‘We want to use the value gained from enabling development to proceed quickly and smoothly to support nature recovery – and to do so in a way that gives everyone involved greater certainty.’

‘Nature recovery remains a top priority alongside the need to overhaul the planning system, grow the economy and reach net zero,’ Rayner and Reed added. ‘This is not a matter of choosing one of these priorities over another. Sustained economic growth depends upon a healthy natural environment.’

However, last year Labour defeated the Conservative’s attempt to allow councils to set aside rules that meant developers couldn’t complete projects that couldn’t properly show they wouldn’t increase levels of phosphorus or nitrogen in waterways. This prompted Tory accusations that Labour would never be successful in delivering millions of homes and now that the party are set to change environmental regulations they have been accused of hypocrisy.

Ahead of the plans being revealed later, Lawrence Turner, director of Boyer, has expressed his thoughts.

Turner said: ‘It is widely expected that Government will soon formally announce that the issue of phosphates blocking housing development will be tackled by the introduction of new legislation introduced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

‘The Labour government has proposed changes to environmental protections in order to unblock 160,000 homes that have been put on hold due to current rules regarding nutrient neutrality near rivers. Ministers Angela Rayner and Steve Reed have acknowledged the need for a new approach, stating that the current rules are not working effectively.

 ‘Under the proposed model, developers would be allowed to begin construction on housing projects that increase phosphates or nitrates in river catchments, with the understanding that mitigations will be agreed upon and implemented during the construction phase rather than developers having to fund or introduce complicated and often prohibitively costly mitigation themselves for agreement before planning permission is granted. This new approach aims to speed up development without compromising environmental protections.’

‘Labour has emphasised the importance of proper consultation with environmental groups in order to ensure that the changes to the nutrient neutrality rules achieve the desired outcomes of both enabling development and supporting nature recovery. The proposed changes are expected to be included in the planning bill announced in the recent King’s Speech and Labour ministers are hopeful that this will kickstart the stalled housing projects,’ Turner added. ‘While the Conservatives may accuse Labour of hypocrisy, having previously vetoed similar Conservative plans in the House of Lords, Labour ministers say they are confident that they can find a “win-win” solution for both home building and environmental conservation. The introduction of legislation is the most effective way of dealing with the phosphate issue and the proposed changes reflect Labour’s commitment to kickstarting the economy through a housebuilding boom.’

Images: Pasi Jormalainen and Lawrence Turner 

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In response to the King’s speech the Structural Timber Association (STA) is calling on the new government to prioritise more sustainable building technologies, primarily offsite timber frame.

In her first speech as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves outlined a number of new plans that will aid the government in delivering 1.5 million homes over the next five years. These include reinstating mandatory housing targets for Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and opening a consultation on a new approach to planning before the end of the month. However, there is one factor that Ms Reeves failed to consider: net zero. If the same amount of attention currently given to the climate crisis continues, eventually we might not have a suitable place to build new homes.

According to the latest government figures the UK’s built environment is responsible for 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, STA have claimed developers and housebuilders must switch the materials they’re using for greener alternatives – particularly timber. The company have claimed there is existing capacity in the established structural timber manufacturing sector of 120 members to double timber frame manufacturing output to achieve 100,000 homes per annum.

What’s more, the STA remarked that this contribution of 33% of the government’s target would be a huge step forward.

‘The STA whole-heartedly supports The Chancellor’s ambitious plans for housing growth, but we must emphasise that simply building more houses is not enough; we must embrace a fundamental change in the way we build our homes. As a clean technology that offers lower carbon than other building materials, automated offsite manufacture for better quality and shorter construction times, structural timber is the quickest way to bring about this change,’ said Andrew Carpenter, chief executive officer at the STA.

‘The structural timber industry has the capacity and capable to support the new Government in building 300,000 homes a year. With increased automation in offsite manufacture, the structural timber sector can deliver both higher volumes and better quality.’

‘Indeed, many of the major housebuilders are already recognising that we’ve reached a tipping point within the industry, with companies including Vistry, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Cala Homes and Avant Homes seeing the benefits of building in offsite timber frame,’ Carpenter added. ‘Our industry requires clear actionable policies, policies that put MMC and Carbon Reduction, and therefore structural timber, at the forefront of supporting government in the delivery of their housing goals. The policies put in place now will have a significant impact on the UK’s ability to deliver housing targets, great places to live and reducing carbon to achieve net zero. This will be the legacy for decades to come.’

Image: STA

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In a bid to address community needs, Test Valley Borough Council have appointed Burrell Foley Fisher (BFF) to design a new theatre for Andover.

The leading architectural practice have come out on top as they were carefully selected by the local authority from a shortlist of six top consultancies to deliver the new scheme. Now that the architects have been picked, a planning application is expected later this year with demolition and construction expected to commence in 2025 and completion of the whole project to come in 2026.

News of BFF being chosen to lead on the project has come as a result of Andover being awarded £18.3m from round three of the government’s levelling up fund to accelerate two priority regeneration projects in the town.

So far, the details known are that the new theatre will replace a former Poundstretcher Unit, located at the entrance to the Chantry Centre. The venue is set to become a new home for The Lights and will feature a state-of-the-art auditorium to host a variety of events and creative classes.

In 2020 the Andover Masterplan was adopted by the council which outlined that decent transport links would surround the new art space. These include Andover bus station and the Chantry Centre car park.

Councillor Phil North has remarked that BFF were selected due to the local authority being extremely ‘impressed’ with their previous work.

‘We are delighted to have awarded this contract to BFF,’ Cllr North said. ‘As part of deciding who to appoint, a panel of key stakeholders, including representatives from Andover BID, Andover Town Council, Test Valley Arts Foundation and Borough Councillors were involved. We were so impressed with the quality of proposal that we saw through the procurement process. BFF in particular shone out for the quality of their work and extensive expertise in the cultural sector.’

Cllr North continued: ‘Their energy and enthusiasm to be a part of this project and to help transform Andover town centre will make for an exciting collaboration and we look forward to working with them to bring a new theatre to Andover as we spend the Levelling Up money that the Council, supported by Kit Malthouse MP, was able to secure.’

Helen Grassly, director at BFF, added: ‘We are thrilled to have been chosen to design the new theatre for Andover and the surrounding area. Our expert team will support The Lights to plan a variety of high quality, larger performance spaces.

‘Today modern theatres are also venues for the entire community, open to all, and without barriers to attendance or participation and we look forward to working with Test Valley Borough Council to develop designs that contribute to the regeneration of the town centre and, whilst representative of the area and its history, provide a contemporary building for the Lights to expand their cultural and community offer.’

Prior to taking on this project, BFF completed a remodelling of the Hall for Cornwall, Truro, which was described as ‘brilliantly reimagined’ by the world famous lyricist Sir Tim Rice.

Image: BFF

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As a shortage of affordable accommodation piles pressure on local authority finances, James McHugh, senior consultant at Campbell Tickell, explains an up-to-date housing strategy can help councils assess housing need in their area.

May’s local elections quickly faded into the background with the abrupt announcement of the General Election, but for a few weeks we saw our national media temporarily divert its attention away from events in the Westminster village towards the 107 local authority areas where 2,660 council seats were being contested. Correspondents were dispatched to locations such as Dudley, Harlow, and Northeast Lincolnshire – seeking to uncover what the results might tell us about Labour’s prospects of making inroads in the home counties or the Conservatives’ chances of winning seats within the fabled ‘Red Wall’ constituencies at a (then) forthcoming election.

Bankruptcy declarations on the rise

Among the coverage, little commentary focused on the day-to-day realities of many local authorities (often summarily dismissed as ‘local issues’). Since these seats were last contested in May 2021, six local authorities have served Section 114 notices – twice in the case of one authority – declaring so-called ‘bankruptcy’ due to their inability to meet their spending commitments.

This accounts for around half of the S114s served since the legislation was introduced in the late 1980s. The exact reasons and local circumstances behind each of these are complex, but collectively they tell a story of mounting pressures arising from demand for core services and the difficulties involved in managing finances and seeking new commercial revenues to plug the spending gap. The spate of S114 notices is unlikely to stop, with a recent Local Government Association survey revealing that almost one in five council leaders and chief executives think it is likely they will need to issue a notice this year or next.

Homelessness and temporary accommodation at record high

Housing, or more specifically the lack of affordable housing, is undoubtedly one of the key drivers of local authorities’ financial woes. The numbers of both homeless households and children living in temporary accommodation are the highest ever recorded, with a large part of the bill being picked up by local authorities due to outdated rules which prevent them from reclaiming the full costs through housing benefit. The human costs of this are profound, and some councils have gone on record to declare that such expenditure is simply unsustainable.

Building social

The clear and obvious solution to this is to build more affordable homes – the benefits of which are aptly shown by the ‘Build Social’ campaign – but the development industry remains hampered by inflationary pressures, interest rates, and the impact of Brexit.

Private housebuilders will continue to build at a rate which maximises financial returns, while registered providers are increasingly refocusing their efforts on investing in their existing homes.

Over the past few years, local authorities have impressively stepped up their housebuilding outputs, but this remains some way off the post-war highs and (for now) only makes a small contribution to the 300,000 or so new homes needed annually.

Outdated local plans

Added to this are ongoing uncertainties around planning at both national and local level, with recent estimates suggesting up to 78% of English councils will have an out-of-date local plan by late 2025. There are also equally profound challenges relating to the quality of existing homes, with new and emerging legislation entailing new duties and oversight of councils in relation to the private rented sector, supported housing, and social housing where they manage homes.

Role reflections

Such a complex and challenging environment is compelling many local authorities to deeply reflect on their role in relation to housing, and how best to communicate this to their residents and partners. For many, this can best be achieved through producing or updating their Housing Strategy. This represents an opportunity to assess what their local evidence says of housing needs, to facilitate a multi-agency approach to tackling shared challenges, and most importantly to engage with their residents and partners on their local priorities.

If anything, the outcome of May’s local elections did not forecast the scale of Labour’s majority at the subsequent General Election. It is clear that the incoming Government now faces some daunting challenges, local government finance among them. They may wish to take heed of some of the astute policy proposals suggested this week by our countries’ largest local authority landlords. We at Campbell Tickell look forward to working with the sector to discuss these and other potential solutions.

This article was featured in the latest issue of CT Brief – Issue 72.

Image: Simon Ray

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